| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: and solemn; tense and solemn was what he imagined he too much
showed for with other people. The thing to be, with the one person
who knew, was easy and natural--to make the reference rather than
be seeming to avoid it, to avoid it rather than be seeming to make
it, and to keep it, in any case, familiar, facetious even, rather
than pedantic and portentous. Some such consideration as the
latter was doubtless in his mind for instance when he wrote
pleasantly to Miss Bartram that perhaps the great thing he had so
long felt as in the lap of the gods was no more than this
circumstance, which touched him so nearly, of her acquiring a house
in London. It was the first allusion they had yet again made,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: Louis' uncle, when he heard of the rank his grand-nephew had received,
made me a present of two hundred thousand francs (the half of his
savings) with which to buy a house in Paris, and I have charged Louis
to find one in your neighborhood. My mother has given me thirty
thousand francs for the furnishing, and I shall do my best not to
disgrace the dear sister of my election--no pun intended.
I am grateful to you for having already done so much at Court for
Louis. But though M. de Bourmont and M. de Polignac have paid him the
compliment of asking him to join their ministry, I do not wish so
conspicuous a place for him. It would commit him too much; and I
prefer the Audit Office because it is permanent. Our affairs here are
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: a rosy apple in his hand, smelt it and found its smell pleasant. Then did
his animals think the time had come to speak unto him.
"O Zarathustra," said they, "now hast thou lain thus for seven days with
heavy eyes: wilt thou not set thyself again upon thy feet?
Step out of thy cave: the world waiteth for thee as a garden. The wind
playeth with heavy fragrance which seeketh for thee; and all brooks would
like to run after thee.
All things long for thee, since thou hast remained alone for seven days--
step forth out of thy cave! All things want to be thy physicians!
Did perhaps a new knowledge come to thee, a bitter, grievous knowledge?
Like leavened dough layest thou, thy soul arose and swelled beyond all its
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
